Teen gets probation for threat on MySpace

A 15-year-old ex-student at East Aurora High School will serve a year on probation for posting Internet statements that referenced the shooting deaths at Northern Illinois University.

The boy pleaded guilty at a hearing Monday in Kane County juvenile court to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in the Feb. 17 post on MySpace.com.

The blog comments named several East Aurora students and said they deserved a violent end similar to those who were slain in the Valentine's Day rampage at the DeKalb campus.

The post also prompted an increase in police around the East Aurora campus and dozens of parents kept their children out of class after they were alerted by the school.

"If I was a parent … and I heard about this, I wouldn't let my kid go to school," said Judge Wiley Edmondson.

The teenager, who lives in Aurora Township, has been jailed 27 days since his arrest after the post was reported to police.

Shackled in court with his parents standing behind him, the teenager told Edmondson he was sorry and that he was "dumb" for writing the statements.

The terms of the teenager's plea agreement prohibit him from visiting Internet social networking sites. He can use the Internet only for school.

He also must write apologies to the students affected by the post, undergo counseling and submit to random drug tests. He also must wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet for 21 days.

The teenager's trial started March 12 and, through his attorney, he argued the posts were protected by his First Amendment rights.

"You absolutely don't have the freedom to say whatever you want," Edmondson said Monday.

The teenager was removed from school about two weeks before the post for an unrelated matter. East Aurora officials are considering whether to expel him.